Railway line is in jeopardy (From This Is Wiltshire)

Railway line is in jeopardy

11:10am Tuesday 29th December 2009 in

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WORK to transform the railway line between Swindon and Kemble could be in jeopardy.

Conservative MP for the Cotswolds Geoffrey Clifton-Brown fears the feasibility study being undertaken by Network Rail will unearth additional costs.

He said the project would cost £38m and that £40m had been allocated, but the costs could soar after the study.

He said: “If this comes up with a cost substantially more than the £40m committed by the region and Government then obviously the shortfall would have to be found somewhere else.”

Campaigners hope the work will remove the bottleneck on the Cheltenham to London route.

The South West Regional Development Agency and the Welsh Assembly have paid for a study by Network Rail on the costs, which should be finished shortly.

If the plan is given the go ahead, work could start in the middle of 2011 and would take a year.

But the £40m allocation could be lost if a plan is not agreed or if the project is considered too costly.